VA - Nuggets I (Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968)

Not just Lenny Kaye's classic double album of garage-rock rarities, but 3 more CDs' worth of three-chord, one-hit wonders from the '60s! Disc one reprises the original double album, including such classics as I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night) Electric Prunes; Dirty Water Standells; Moulty Barbarians; Psychotic Reaction Count Five, and Baby Please Don't Go Amboy Dukes, while discs two through four add other rare/seminal songs like Talk Talk Music Machine; Incense and Peppermints Strawberry Alarm Clock; Strychnine Sonics; Shape of Things to Come Max Frost & the Storm Troopers; Louie Louie Kingsmen, and more. 118 songs.

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That the most famous garage-rock record of all time, the Kingsmen's "Louie Louie," is buried on the last CD of this four-disc box is very much in keeping with the spirit of the (often) one-hit wonders that people Nuggets. Here, "Louie Louie" is just another great song. An elaboration on the 1972 double LP, which is included in its original sequence, this set piles on dozens more great moments of inspiration, guts, chutzpah, and sometimes sheer commercial calculation. How else to explain the advice "Look at yourself" from the likes of the Strawberry Alarm Clock, whose idea of mind expansion seems limited to putting together two very vaguely related nouns--"Incense and Peppermints"--so their swinging Farfisa-led track will have something, anything, for verbal content? There's loads of such wisdom on display here, prefab and otherwise, usually delivered as rabidly as possible. (Try the Remains' "Don't Look Back," Mouse and the Traps' "Maid of Sugar--Maid of Spice," or the Music Machine's "Talk Talk," which was actually a hit.) And remember: "The sky is falling / The ocean is calling / The world ... is spinning 'round ... and 'round." For sure. --Rickey Wright

Review

All in all, this is as comprehensive a comp on early American punk and psychedelia as is currently available. It's for anyone with even a passing interest in ferocious performances, prototypical rock-and-roll experimentation, and the most desperate, driving force behind adolescent fury: the opposite sex. -- Alternative Press

No other brand of electric teenage kicks from pop's last three decades has survived with such raw, radiant aplomb and has defied the tyranny of cheese-ball nostalgia. -- Rolling Stone

Punk to funk, garage bands to computer-in-the-bedroom junglists, you can trace a continuum of teenagers hopped up on illegal stimulants (or fervently pretending to be) and literally electrified by the latest noise-toys.... If Nuggets is "educational," it's because it's an endlessly renewable refresher course in how to live like you're on fire. -- Spin

VOL.1

01. The Electric Prunes — I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) — 2:59

02. The Standells — Dirty Water — 2:48

03. The Strangeloves — Night Time — 2:32

04. The Knickerbockers — Lies — 2:44

05. The Vagrants — Respect — 2:15

06. Mouse — A Public Execution — 2:49

07. The Blues Project — No Time Like The Right Time — 2:47

08. The Shadows Of Knight — Oh Yeah — 2:49

09. The Seeds — Pushin’ Too Hard — 2:37

10. The Barbarians — Moulty — 2:34

11. The Remains — Don’t Look Back — 2:43

12. The Magicians — An Invitation To Cry — 2:57

13. The Castaways — Liar, Liar — 1:54

14. The Thirteenth Floor Elevators — You’re Gonna Miss Me — 2:29

15. Count Five — Psychotic Reaction — 3:07

16. The Leaves — Hey Joe — 2:51

17. Michael & The Messengers — Romeo & Juliet — 2:00

18. The Cryan Shames — Sugar And Spice — 2:30

19. The Amboy Dukes — Baby Please Don’t Go — 5:39

20. Blues Magoos — Tobacco Road — 4:42

21. Chocolate Watch Band — Let’s Talk About Girls — 2:43

22. The Mojo Men — Sit Down, I Think I Love You — 2:23

23. The Third Rail — Run, Run, Run — 1:55

24. Sagittarius — My World Fell Down — 3:50

25. Nazz — Open My Eyes — 2:45

26. The Premiers — Farmer John — 2:27

27. The Magic Mushrooms — It’s-A-Happening — 2:47

VOL.2

01. The Music Machine — Talk Talk — 1:59

02. The Del-Vetts — Last Time Around — 2:42

03. The Human Beinz — Nobody But Me — 2:19

04. Kenny & The Kasuals — Journey To Tyme — 2:36

05. The Sparkles — No Friend Of Mine — 2:26

06. The Turtles — Outside Chance — 2:04

07. The Litter — Action Woman — 2:33

08. The Elastik Band — Spazz — 2:46

09. The Chocolate Watchband — Sweet Young Thing — 2:59

10. Strawberry Alarm Clock — Incense And Peppermints — 2:50

11. The Brogues — I Ain’t No Miracle Worker — 2:49

12. Love — 7 And 7 Is — 2:25

13. The Outsiders — Time Won’t Let Me — 2:50

14. The Squires — Going All The Way — 2:22

15. The Shadows Of Knight — I’m Gonna Make You Mine — 2:33

16. Kim Fowley — The Trip — 2:03

17. The Seeds — Can’t Seem To Make You Mine — 2:36

18. The Remains — Why Do I Cry — 2:50

19. The Beau Brummels — Laugh, Laugh — 2:54

20. The Nightcrawlers — The Little Black Egg — 2:45

21. The Gants — I Wonder — 2:15

22. The Five Americans — I See The Light — 2:09

23. The Woolies — Who Do You Love — 2:04

24. Swingin’ Medallions — Double Shot (Of My Baby’s Love) — 2:17

25. The Merry-Go-Round — Live — 2:37

26. Paul Revere & The Raiders — Steppin’ Out — 2:13

27. Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band — Diddy Wah Diddy — 2:29

28. The Sonics — Strychnine — 2:12

29. Syndicate Of Sound — Little Girl — 2:29

30. Blues Magoos — (We Ain’t Got) Nothin’ Yet — 2:18

31. Max Frost & The Troopers — Shape Of Things To Come — 1:54

VOL.3

01. The Hombres — Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out) — 2:10

02. The Golliwogs — Fight Fire — 2:34

03. New Colony Six — At The River’s Edge — 2:39

04. The Daily Flash — Jack Of Diamonds — 2:38

05. Lyme & Cybelle — Follow Me — 2:30

06. The Choir — It’s Cold Outside — 2:51

07. The Rare Breed — Beg, Borrow And Steal — 2:32

08. Sir Douglas Quintet — She’s About A Mover — 2:25

09. The Music Explosion — Little Bit O’Soul — 2:22

10. The «E» Types — Put The Clock Back On The Wall — 2:24

11. The Palace Guard — Falling Sugar — 2:10

12. The Gestures — Run, Run, Run — 2:18

13. The Rationals — I Need You — 2:16

14. The Humane Society — Knock, Knock — 2:58

15. The Groupies — Primitive — 3:51

16. The Sonics — Psycho — 2:17

17. The Lyrics — So What!! — 2:50

18. The Lollipop Shoppe — You Must Be A Witch — 2:49

19. The Balloon Farm — A Question Of Temperature — 2:40

20. Mouse & The Traps — Maid Of Sugar — Maid Of Spice — 2:39

21. The Uniques — You Ain’t Tuff — 2:21

22. The Standells — Sometimes Good Guys Don’t Wear White — 2:38

23. The Mojo Men — She’s My Baby — 3:02

24. Unrelated Segments — Story Of My Life — 2:44

25. The Third Bardo — I’m Five Years Ahead Of My Time — 2:16

26. We The People — Mirror Of Your Mind — 2:45

27. The Shadows Of Knight — Bad Little Woman — 2:39

28. The Music Machine — Double Yellow Line — 2:13

29. The Human Expression — Optical Sound — 2:37

30. The Amboy Dukes — Journey To The Center Of The Mind — 3:34

VOL.4

01. The Chocolate Watchband — Are You Gonna Be There (At The Love-In) — 2:27

02. The Leaves — Too Many People — 2:46

03. The Brigands — (Would I Still Be) Her Big Man — 2:21

04. The Barbarians — Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl — 2:16

05. Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs — Wooly Bully — 2:21

06. The Strangeloves — I Want Candy — 2:37

07. The Kingsmen — Louie Louie — 2:45

08. The Knickerbockers — One Track Mind — 2:20

09. Wailers — Out Of Our Tree — 3:32

10. Harbinger Complex — I Think I’m Down — 2:28

11. The Dovers — What Am I Going To Do — 2:41

12. The Charlatans — Codine — 2:25

13. The Mystery Trend — Johnny Was A Good Boy — 2:38

14. Clefs Of Lavender Hill — Stop — Get A Ticket — 2:28

15. The Monks — Complication — 2:24

16. The Sonics — The Witch — 2:40

17. The Electric Prunes — Get Me To The World On Time — 2:33

18. The Other Half — Mr. Pharmacist — 2:34

19. Richard & The Young Lions — Open Up Your Door — 2:45

20. Paul Revere & The Raiders — Just Like Me — 2:24

21. We The People — You Burn Me Up And Down — 2:22

22. The Lemon Drops — I Live In The Springtime — 2:54

23. Fenwyck — Mindrocker — 3:00

24. The Rumors — Hold Me Now — 2:29

25. The Underdogs — Love’s Gone Bad — 2:29

26. The Standells — Why Pick On Me — 2:46

27. The Zakary Thaks — Bad Girl — 2:10

28. Gonn — Blackout Of Gretely — 4:36

29. The Bees — Voices Green And Purple — 1:35

30. Davie Allan & The Arrows — Blues’ Theme — 2:10

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